The Fortune of the Stray
by OtakuLeader
Summary: Gypsy AU with Monochrome focus: Weiss Schnee is a soldier, trying to keep the wrath of her father, the King, at bay. Blake Belladonna is a beautiful gypsy who captures Weiss' interest during a night of festivity, resulting in Weiss being kidnapped. Will fortune be on their side as the two women get to know each other as they go against the cards of fate intended for them?


**Well here is the 1****st**** chapter to my RWBY Gypsy AU with a gradual focus on Monochrome romance. I hope those of you who have stumbled upon my story enjoy it. I had a blast coming up with it and have outlined nearly everything from start to finish for this story. Special thanks to my friends technoskittles, weissrabbit, and eviipaladin from tumblr and the RWBY Twitter RP I'm a part of for giving me ideas for this AU and also helping me edit this story to the finished product you see below. They all have contributed to the RWBY fandom either through art or writing and can be checked out on tumblr with their respective names. You are all so wonderful! Anyways, on with the story! Reviews are always welcomed and helpful! Thank you! **

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_This fic and AU is dedicated to __**technoskittles**__, who not only shares the same real name as I do (it's a pretty awesome name) but always comes up with interesting/fun AU's and shares them with us in the twitter rp group. She also helped me with this AU of mine by giving me the idea to make it Monochrome, Weiss being a soldier, an early major plot scene, and also just being fantastic person in general. Thank you Ash! _

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_Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of it's characters. They belong to Rooster Teeth and Monty Oum. Only the Gypsy AU idea and plot is mine.  
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Music and laughter could be heard as an army somberly made its way through the forest, evening slowly approaching them. When a camp of traveling wagons came into view and the glow of fire, the soldiers straightened up their stance and drew their weapons when the commanding officer stopped her horse and raised a hand in the air. The red haired officer beckoned to a young woman dressed in a uniform of white who carried at the rear of the army. The soldiers made a path amongst themselves as the woman made her way through the army, her cold blue eyes glaring at them. It was only when she positioned her horse next to the general dressed in black and saluted that the coldness she emitted lessened and she let her face be graced with a faint smile.

"Captain Pyrrha?"

"Come now, Weiss." Pyrrha sighed. "How many times have I told you to drop rank when we're not in the presence of your father?"

"There is no need to cause further dissent between myself and his Majesty." Weiss murmured quietly. "Especially with rats amongst our ranks."

Pyrrha shook her head and straightened up.

"So what do you make of that music? Makes you want to get up and dance the night away, wouldn't you say?"

Pyrrha eyed the soldiers behind her, who maintained their stiff positions, appearing to be uninterested in her question, but she couldn't help smile at how some were squirming. Weiss saw this look and tried to change the conversation without seeming too conspicuous.

"If you ask me, it sounds like a band of gallivanting barbarians had a bit too much wine this evening." Weiss frowned when she heard a slight cheer from a soldier behind her and pinched the bridge of her nose. "Must we, Pyrrha?"

"Oh, I think it will be fun!" Pyrrha said, playfully tapping Weiss on the shoulder. "It's been some time since we all had some fun and relaxed. We've done nothing but patrol the past few weeks."

"Yes but I don't think interacting with a bunch of gypsies would be -"

"Wait."

Weiss immediately froze up and looked at Pyrrha with surprise. And that was when she realized the music had stopped.

"Pyrrha?"

"We've been surrounded." The general said grimly.

Weiss straightened up and examined the area. Slowly, from shadows of the trees, various states of dressed men and women, some carrying guns, others carrying daggers or long swords, made themselves known. She pulled out her rapier and readied herself, frowning when she realized Pyrrha did not follow suit. Weiss was about to inquire about this when a flash of gold caught her eye. A young woman dressed in bright oranges and gold, stood out from her fellow darkly dressed gypsies, making her way toward them, a wine bottle in her right hand.

"I think this is their leader." Pyrrha murmured.

"These miscreants have leaders? Now that's a charming thought. An organized band of gypsies." Weiss chuckled softly but stopped when Pyrrha stiffened and gave a practiced smile as the yellow haired gypsy stopped in front of them.

"Well now. What do we have here? An army in my forest. How delightful!"

The woman laughed heartily and so did the other gypsies.

"How dare you!" Weiss pointed her rapier at the gypsy leader. The leader merely gave Weiss an amused look and took a swig of her wine.

"Oh, I wouldn't point your sword at anyone around here, if I were you. Someone just _might _lose a leg. Isn't that right, Nora?"

An orange haired girl dressed brightly in pinks and greens jumped out from a nearby tree, swinging around a crudely made yet deadly giant hammer.

"Whose leg am I breaking today?"

The girl grinned, pointing her weapon towards Weiss, wiping her tongue over her lips as if anticipating a meal. The gypsy leader laughed as did a few others. "Oh don't worry. None of us bite. _Much._"

Weiss was about to retort, but Pyrrha hastily thrust a hand against Weiss' mouth and shook her head. The gypsies laughed at this as well and Weiss felt her cheeks burn in embarrassment. She even heard a few of the soldiers behind her snicker and vowed she would punish them later, if Pyrrha permitted it.

"My name is Pyrrha Nikos, commanding officer of this army. We do not want to fight. We merely heard the festivities from your campsite and were interested."

"Were you now?" The gypsy took out a dagger and began cleaning her teeth with it.

"Filthy barbarian." Weiss muttered angrily.

"It doesn't seem like _she's_ interested in our festivities."

"Weiss! Behave yourself." Pyrrha looked at Weiss sharply.

Weiss clenched the hilt of her sword tighter but kept her mouth shut, turning her view away from the yellow haired gypsy before them.

"I'm sorry for my subordinates' words, Miss….?"

"Yang. Yang Xiao Long is my name and I'm the self proclaimed "Queen of the Gypsies," so to speak." She chuckled before flashing a threatening smile at Weiss. "So I'd like it if you _watched your tone_, White One."

Pyrrha looked at Weiss who maintained her silence but could see her jaw working and sighed before turning back to Yang.

"Well, Miss Long, the truth of the matter is my small group of soldiers and I have been on patrol for many weeks and just want a bit of rest and relaxation. A change of pace if you will."

Yang didn't look at Pyrrha but tilted her head to indicate she was still listening.

"We won't cause any trouble. If _any _one of us causes problems, you all can do as you will them, within reason. We may be soldiers but we just patrol. Surely we're all civilized enough to treat each other with respect and enjoy one another's company for one night?"

Weiss knew there was a subtle warning in Pyrrha's words to control herself but she still could not help but feel a rising uneasiness in her chest. She looked back at Yang, who seemed bored and felt annoyed when she turned around without responding to Pyrrha and could not stop herself from speaking.

"Did you not hear what the commanding officer said, you-"

"ALRIGHT EVERYONE! LET'S SHOW THESE SOLDIERS A GOOD TIME!"

Weiss cringed from the boisterous cheering behind her and watched as all the soldiers broke rank and ran off into the clearing where the gypsy camp was located. She scowled when she saw their yellow haired leader turn back around and wink at her before joining her band. Pyrrha gave Weiss an apologetic smile and before getting off her horse and followed Yang. Weiss slowly got off her own horse and made her way upon the encroachment of the camp and tied her horse to a nearby tree. She turned back to the camp and wrinkled her nose in displeasure at the state her fellow soldiers were in. Some had swapped their army dress for gypsy clothing, most which looked like they had been hastily sew together with whatever had been at hand during their creation. Others were half naked, dancing and drinking away in small groups by fires with music which made Weiss feel more annoyed than relaxed. Weiss continued to examine the camp and noticed many of the gypsies were already quite inebriated, goading the soldiers to drink substances that they would no doubt regret in the morning. She silently complimented herself for not indulging into such acts of debauchery and sat down on a patch of grass, watching the sun slowly disappear down the horizon. Weiss saw Pyrrha dancing clumsily with a young girl dressed in red and burgundy by a fire and heard some nearby gypsies refer to her as "Ruby." She frowned disapprovingly as the young girl kept trying to entice Pyrrha to stay by her side by pulling on her clothes but Pyrrha managed to wave her off as she took a spot by Weiss on the grass.

"Weiss, why aren't you joining in the festivities?" Pyrrha pulled out a bottle of wine and a wooden cup, offering it to her friend. "Are you upset by the way I spoke to you earlier?"

Weiss shook her head at the offering and Pyrrha shrugged before pouring some drink for herself to enjoy.

"No, it's not that. I know why you had to do that in front of _these _people but still…" Weiss sniffed as she glared at the camp.

"They're not _bad_ people Weiss. They've just been labeled as such. Their way of life really is quite beautiful once you get to them. I grew up in a city where gypsies were constantly visiting. I almost joined them once but I decided my skills would be better suited for army life than a life of vagabonding around. Though the idea of being so free tempts me to this day. Plus their wine is quite delicious!" Pyrrha laughed and poured another drink for herself. "You should relax a bit. Nothing bad is going to happen. We don't need to keep our guard up here. They won't do anything _too_ out of hand. I spoke to their leader and we made a gypsy pact. Trust me."

"What in the world is gypsy pact…never mind. I don't want to know." Weiss took a deep, controlled breath and contemplated her next words.

"Pyrrha, I just don't trust these people. Perhaps you had good experiences with gypsies but I know my family hasn't. I mean, my own mother was a gypsy and look how life has turned out for me. I'm unwanted and unloved by my own father because of her. If you only knew the stories he told me of how she bewitched him and nearly caused the kingdom to fall down into disarray when she ran off with another man. I shudder to think how furious he would be if he found out I was staying a night in a gypsy encampment."

Pyrrha gave Weiss a concerned look but Weiss shook her head dismissively. "It's fine. He won't find out. But what I'm trying to get at is gypsies in the long run only spell bad luck. Nothing good about them, despite what you may have grown up thinking. They pillage, they steal, they enchant…." Weiss' voice trailed off as a particularly loud bout of cheers came from the center of a camp and lone dancing gypsy was suddenly in the middle of the crowd.

The first thing Weiss noticed was she was dressed far differently from the other gypsies. While their leader was obviously well dressed, the bright colors and unruly curly hair Yang had made her look wild. The woman who approached them was dressed in darker color of teals and royal purple. A magenta sash tied around her head, where Weiss was surprised to see cat ears sticking out the top of her sleek black hair. One could hear the jingling of the silver rings clasped around the gypsy's ankles and arms as she clapped her hands and danced around her friends.

"A faunus gypsy. You don't see one of those often." Pyrrha murmured before sloppily pouring herself another drink.

Weiss barely heard her; too entranced by the way the gypsy swayed her hips, twisting and twirling her hands up and down her body sensuously as she continued to make her way to where Pyrrha and she sat. Weiss was startled when the faunus gypsy leaned closed to her face, her golden eyes seemingly seeing right through Weiss. The soldier felt herself flush and was about to look away when the gypsy gently touched her hair before taking out a white rose from behind Weiss' left ear and placed it on a the front pocket of Weiss' uniform.

"Blake, what are you doing over here and not dancing with me…oh. It's you again."

Weiss snapped out of her trance as the gypsy named Blake took a few steps back and smiled wryly at her leader. Yang looked at Weiss suspiciously before turning her attention back to Blake.

"I was merely trying to figure out why the one guest in white hasn't joined in the festivities this evening. Obviously it wasn't to talk to her friend."

Weiss turned to her side and saw that Pyrrha was lying on the grass, snoring softly.

"Is that so?" Yang pulled a cup out of nowhere and a nearby gypsy rushed to fill the cup with wine. "And what did you find out?" Yang downed the drink in one go, never taking her eyes off Weiss. Weiss scowled but refused to say anything.

"I think…" Blake reached out and grabbed Weiss' arm.

"Hey! What do you think you're -"

Blake leaned in closely to Weiss' ear and whispered,

"Just go along with me. Please."

"She wants her fortune told tonight instead, don't you…?"

Blake gave her a pointed look and Weiss looked at her in confusion for a brief moment before catching on.

"Weiss. My name is Weiss Schnee." Weiss said while plastering what she hoped was a friendly smile on her face, noticing the gypsy leader had pulled out her dagger. "Yes, I think I'd _love_ to have my fortune told. I feel a bit too tired for dancing but I'm fine with a bit of fortune telling. Look, I'll even _pay _her for her services."

Weiss pulled out a few coins as Yang looked at the coins thoughtfully, tapping her dagger against her chin.

"Weiss Schnee? Now where have I heard that name before…ah, no matter. It'll come to me later." She put away her dagger. "Anyways, I'll be keeping an eye on you until your army leaves, Weiss Schnee. Even if your commanding officer and I made a pact. Blakey, make sure to come back and dance with me later, okay?"

"Always, Yang."

Weiss watched as Yang slunk off, joining her friends in their gallivanting. She felt a touch on her shoulder and frowned when she saw the faunus gypsy was still there.

"Well, I suppose I should thank you for saving me. N-n-not that I found her frightening or anything. I just am a bit wary with the forest surroundings and…" Weiss realized she was blabbering and stopped speaking, feeling her face flush even more than before as Blake took her hand.

"Come with me." Blake said as she gently tugged Weiss toward a handsomely made house-wagon which stood quite a distance away from the festivities of the camp.

"Wait a minute." Weiss said, stopping in her tracks, her hand automatically reaching for her rapier. "What are you planning to do?"

Blake glanced down when Weiss moved her hand, and then gave her a mysterious smile. She twirled around the soldier, pulling a scarlet sash from her waist and essentially trapped Weiss with it. She leaned her face closely to Weiss,' lips nearly touching, before she whispered,

"Fortune telling."


End file.
